TO
think that all government is of God and that the devil advocates nothing but
anarchy is a mistake.It is true,
anarchy is one phase of the devil’s work, but the spirit of anti­christ
strongly advocates, and seeks to establish a government.There are demons of anarchy whom Satan uses at certain occasions, but
the devil himself understands the strength of organization, and knows the
power of government.To say that
the governments of the world have and are today entirely under the control of
Satan would be a mistake; to say that they have been and are today entirely
under the control of Christ would be as great a mistake.“The powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13: 1), but because
of the prevalence of wickedness in the world these “powers” are greatly
hin­dered from being just what God would have them be.On the other hand, the influence of God’s people in the world hinders
Satan from making these “powers” just what he would have them be.In our last chapter we said that Nimrod’s tower marked the beginning
of all earthly sovereignties this side the flood, stating that it was the
purpose of Satan to fully establish the kingdom of Antichrist at that time,
and that he would have done so, no doubt, had he not been defeated by the
Almighty.Since the defeat of
Satan at Babel, and the dis­persion of the people in the whole world, Satan
has been seek­ing to establish a government similar to the one begun in the
land of Shinar, and to fully establish the kingdom and reign of the
Antichrist.So far he has failed.It is the purpose of this chapter to trace developments of the kingdom
of Antichrist through the ages.We
can not think of discussing all points in this connection, or even mentioning
all the governmental powers

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with
which Satan has had to do, but we wish to trace the princi­pal heads.In so doing, we shall see that Satan has had much to do with the
governments of this world.

1. Egypt.First in the
list after leaving Nimrod’s un­finished tower is Egypt.Very little is known of political history between the confusion of
tongues at Babel and the rise of Egyptian dominion.When the historic curtain first rises from the mystic shores of
Legendary, there were people living in the valleys of the Nile and the
Euphrates.Egypt is the first
governmental power to attract our attention.The ancient Egyptians were the chief people of the Hamitic branch.The Hamitic branch were the children of Ham, the son of Noah.Nimrod was the grandson of Ham. Therefore,
the Egyptians, likely, were the descendants of Nimrod himself.Menes, the founder of the first Dynasty of the Pharaohs, as well as the
Pharaohs, was, perhaps, a descendant from Nimrod directly through the royal
family.In our last chapter we
stated that no government could exist without a religion.The ancient Egyptians had a religion in connection with their
government.They worshipped bugs,
animals, etc.Their re­ligious
ideas were filled with mysteries.In
a word, the pre­dominating characteristic of Egyptian worship was mystery.Their religious belief reacted in a remarkable way upon the earthly
life of the people of Egypt.It
was the cause and motive of many things they did, and of many of the laws they
made.Their religion was in no
way connected with anything that pointed to the blood of Christ, and hence, it
was the re­ligion of Antichrist.Their
religion and politics were closely allied to each other, and these had one
common centre.Such a state of
affairs is often spoken of in the Bible as fornication.God always regards the union of the state with false worship as
spiritual adultery.The Egyptians
made effort to extend their dominion world‑wide.Thus we see many of the charac­teristics of Nimrod’s kingdom
springing up in ancient Egypt.

2. Assyria.Second in the
list of world‑wide kingdoms

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DEVELOPMENT
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after
leaving Nimrod’s tower is Assyria.The
Assyrians are said to have descended from Shem, the son of Noah.The founder of their dominion, however, was surely Nimrod him­self,
for “He (Nimrod) went out into Assyria, and builded Nineveh.”—Gen. 10:
11. (Margin.)The Assyrians also
had a religion in connection with their government, but it was the religion of
Antichrist Sennacherib, the most renowned of all the Assyrian kings, devoted
much to great building enter­prises at Nineveh.Representing the decoration of Nineveh, one of his inscriptions says,
“I raised again all the edifices of Nineveh, my royal city; I reconstructed
all its old streets, and widened those that were too narrow.I made the whole town a city shining like the sun.”Their religion seemed to prompt them to the work of architecture and
painting.Their devotion to this
art was the cause of many things they did.Much labor also was given to the work of sculpture.In short, the pre­dominating characteristics of Assyrian religion were
sculpture, architecture, and painting.The
Assyrians, like the Babylon­ians, sought to make their dominion
world‑wide.Thus in several
ways we can see the characteristics of Nimrod’s king­dom in Assyria.

3. Babylon.Third in the
list of world‑wide powers is Babylon.The Babylonians, as well as the Assyrians, are said to have descended
from Shem.That Nimrod, however,
was the founder of Babylon is certain.From
the time that Nimrod went down into the land of Shinar (Gen. 11: 2) until this
present day Babylon has not been entirely lost from view.Of the fact that the Babylonians play a great part in history before
Assyria rises to her highest mark of power, I am not ignorant.After the Assyrian kings had lorded it over the whole East for nearly
or quite six centuries, their dominion was overpowered by Nabopolassar, king
of Babylon.For a short time,
therefore, Babylon filled a great place in history.

For
this reason it is proper to consider her as the third world-­wide power.

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The
Babylonians also had a religion in connection with their government.They had quite a mixture of religion.One important element of their religion was their worship of nature
gods.Nimrod attributed the flood
to nature only, and this idea has ever been prominent among the Babylonians.Another prominent feature of their religion, of which we must not lose
sight, was the belief in spirits, particularly in wicked spirits, and the
practice of magic rites and incantations to avert the malign influence of
these demons.Yet, no one can
fail to see that the ever‑prevailing element of Babylonian religion was
that of self‑exaltation.This
is so vividly brought out in the history of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s
greatest king.As “He walked in
the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, the king spake, and said, Is not this
great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my
power, and for the honor of my majesty?”—Dan 4: 29, 30.After his res­toration from insanity, he said, “Those that walk in
pride he (God) is able to abase.”—Dan. 4: 37.This self‑exaltation was clearly the religion of Antichrist.Thus we see the third development of the kingdom of Antichrist to be
Babylon.

4.
Persia.Fourth in the list of
world‑wide powers is Persia.It
is sometimes called the Medo‑Persian power.The Medes were at first the leading people, but their leadership was of
short duration.Cyrus, king of
Anshan, overthrew both the Medes and Babylonians, assumed the leadership of
both Medes and Persians, and soon built up an empire more extended, so far as
we know, than any established before his time.The Persians also had a religion in connection with their govern­ment.Of course, as in the cases already considered, there was no blood in
connection with their religion.It
was the religion of Antichrist.The
Persians were moralists.They
taught that it was the duty of man to labor to eradicate every evil and vice
in his own bosom, that the good would finally triumph, and all evil would be
forever destroyed.Thus we see
charac­teristics of Antichrist in Persia.

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DEVELOPMENT
OF THE KINGDOM OF ANTICHRIST.

5.
Greece.The fifth in the list of
world‑wide powers is Greece.It
is sometimes called the Graeco‑Macedonia power.This kingdom immediately follows the down‑fall of Persia in its
world‑wide authority.The
Greeks also had a religion in connection with their government.One of the chief character­istics of the religion of the Greeks was
the sacred games celebrated at Olympia.Another
chief characteristic, in close connection with this one, was their literary
taste.In a word, the
predominating features of the religion of the Greeks was athletics and
education—a religion without blood.Thus
we see that the fifth great world‑wide power was Greece.

6.
Rome.Sixth in the
world‑wide powers is Rome. Greece, having held the reins of worldly
authority for nearly two centuries, was overcome by Rome.Rome held the au­thority of the world, more or less, after she had
conquered Greece, for more than six centuries.She also had a religion in connection with her government.Mars, the god of war, wasthe favorite deity of the Roman race.In their conquests, the Romans were often very cruel.By inflicting all forms of cruelty upon the conquered, the Romans
seemed to think that they were doing the will of the gods.In fact, in a word, the chief characteristic of the religion of the
Romans was cruelty.This religion
was a religion connected with blood, but it was blood that in no way pointed
to the blood of Christ; and hence, it was the religion of Antichrist.Thus it was that the sixth development of the kingdom of Antichrist was
Rome.

In
Rev. 13: 1, John says, “I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven
heads.”From what is said
concerning this beast in Revelation, he is taken by all Bible students, so far
as I know, to be the final Antichrist of which John speaks in 1 John 2: 18.What are these heads? This question is answered in Rev. 17: 9, 10.“The seven heads are seven mountains, . . . . and they are seven
kings” (R. V.).Mountains they
are, but not piles of material rocks and earth, for it is im­mediately
stated, “they are seven kings.”A
mountain is one

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of
the common Scriptural images, symbols, or representatives of a kingdom, regal
dominion, empire, or established authority.(See Jer. 51: 25; Dan. 2: 35.)Such
is the only reasonable explanation of these heads.Concerning them, the angel said, “Five are fallen, and one is, and
the other is not yet come.”—Rev. 17: 10.“One is.”What empire
was in existence at the time John received this Revelation?Any school boy might tell you.It
was Rome.“Five are fallen.”Counting back­ward from Rome, we have Greece, Persia, Babylon, Assyria
and Egpyt; these five, no more, no less.Are these six regal dominions so many developments of the kingdom of
Anti­christ?Surely, for they
spring from the antichrist spirit; in Antichrist they exist; he bears them on
his shoulders; they are his
heads.Each of them has one or more characteristics of the religion of
Antichrist.These characteristics
we have mentioned, but in order that every reader may keep them well in mind,
we sum up as follows:

1. Egypt, Mystery.

2. Assyria, Sculpture, Architecture, and Painting.

3. Babylon, Self‑exaltation.

4. Persia, Morality.

5. Greece, Athletics and Education.

6. Rome, Cruelty.

A common characteristic of all, Union of Church with State, or
Spiritual Adultery.

“The other is not yet come.”Since
the overthrow of Rome in A. D. 476, there has been no empire to exercise sole
authority as these six which we have mentioned did.However, there is one like unto them yet to come, and this one will be
the seventh head of the beast.Of
this head we shall treat in our next chapter.